Information processing device, method of processing information, and computer-readable recording medium

ABSTRACT

An information processing device includes a receiving unit, a first identifying unit, and a generation unit. The receiving unit receives specified position information indicating a position specified by a user with respect to an image indicated by target image data including drawing information of each object. The first identifying unit identifies a first object indicating an object including the position indicated by the specified position information. The generation unit generates a third object indicating an object having lower priority of display than a second object indicating higher priority of display than the first object, and having higher priority of display than the first object, and an object having the same shape as the first object.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to and incorporates by referencethe entire contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-234418 filedin Japan on Nov. 12, 2013.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing device, amethod of processing information, and a computer-readable recordingmedium.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, technologies of performing printing with a specialcolor ink such as a clear toner have been increasing. In the printingwith a special color ink, an object (hereinafter, a special colorobject) to be printed with the special color ink is arranged on anexisting object of an original copy. This enables the printing with thespecial color ink.

Here, for example, when a part of a first object overlaps with a secondobject having higher priority of display than the first object, to addanother object (for example, a special color object) only to a portionof the first object, the portion not overlapping with the second object,work for specifying extraction of a contour according to the shape ofthe portion (for example, work of specifying a processing range ofcontour extraction processing), or the like is required.

Further, for example, JP 2554631 B discloses a configuration of causingthe priority of display of an object to be selected, of overlappingobjects, to be highest.

However, with the configuration disclosed in JP 2554631 B, anotherobject cannot be added without hiding a front object. Therefore, anotherobject cannot be added only to a portion of the first object, theportion not overlapping with the second object having higher priority ofdisplay than the first object.

There is a need for an information processing device, a method ofprocessing information, and a computer-readable recording medium capableof improving work efficiency of a user when another object is added onlyto a portion of the first object, the portion not overlapping with thesecond object having higher priority of display than the first object.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve theproblems in the conventional technology.

The present invention provides an information processing device thatincludes a receiving unit configured to receive specified positioninformation indicating a position specified by a user with respect to animage indicated by target image data including drawing information ofeach object; a first identifying unit configured to identify a firstobject indicating an object including the position indicated by thespecified position information; and a generation unit configured togenerate a third object indicating an object having lower priority ofdisplay than a second object indicating an object having higher priorityof display than the first object, and having higher priority of displaythan the first object, and an object having a same shape as the firstobject.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical andindustrial significance of this invention will be better understood byreading the following detailed description of presently preferredembodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of animage forming system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of image data for colorplate;

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplarily illustrating types of gloss effects;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating image data for gloss control plate asan image;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of a host device;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed by animage processing application;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of imagedata for color plate;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration oforiginal copy data;

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of generating thespecial color object.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for describing control of changing display of themouse cursor;

FIG. 11 is a diagram for describing control of changing display of themouse cursor;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof the host device;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure ofgenerating a special color object by the host device;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by ageneration unit; and

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by anoperation control unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing device, a methodof processing information, and a computer-readable recording mediumaccording to the present invention will be described in detail withreference to the appended drawings.

First, a configuration of an image forming system of the presentembodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, an image forming system 1 of the presentembodiment includes a host device 10, a printer control device. (digitalfront end) (hereinafter, referred to as DFE) 30, an interface controller(mechanism I/F controller) (hereinafter, may be referred to as MIC) 40,and a printing device 60. The host device 10, the DFE 30, the MIC 40,and the printing device 60 are mutually connected through a wired orwireless communication line in a data-transferable manner.

The DFE 30 performs communication with the printing device 60 throughthe MIC 40, and controls formation of an image in the printing device60. Further, the host device 10 such as a personal computer (PC) isconnected to the DFE 30. The DFE 30 receives image data from the hostdevice 10. The DFE 30 then generates, using the image data, image datafor the printing device 60 to form a toner image according to CMYKtoners and a clear toner. Further, the DFE 30 transmits the generatedimage data to the printing device 60 through the MIC 40.

In the example of FIG. 1, the printing device 60 is configured from aprinter device 50 and a post-processing device 75. In the printer device50, the CMYK toners and the clear toner are at least mounted, and animage formation unit including a photoconductor, a charging device, adeveloping device, and a photoconductor cleaner, and an exposure deviceare mounted for each toner. The printer device 50 emits a light beamfrom the exposure device to form a toner image on the photoconductoraccording to the respective toners, and transfers the toner image on arecording medium such as a recording paper, according to the image datatransmitted from the DFE 30 through the MIC 40. The transferred tonerimage is applied heat and pressure at a temperature within apredetermined range (normal temperature) in a fixing device (notillustrated) and fixed on the recording medium. Accordingly, an image isformed on the recording medium.

Here, the clear toner is a transparent (colorless) toner not including acolor material. Note that transparent (colorless) indicates that thetransmittance is 70% or more.

In the example of FIG. 1, the post-processing device 75 is configuredfrom a glosser 70 connected to the printer device 50, a normal fixingpost-processing device 80 connected to the glosses 70, and alow-temperature fixing post-processing device 90 connected to the normalfixing post-processing device 80. However, the post-processing device 75is not limited thereto, and can employ various known configurations. ONand OFF of the glosses 70 are controlled by the DFE 30, and when theglosser 70 is turned ON, the glosser 70 re-fixes the image formed on therecording medium by the printer device 50. Accordingly, a total adhesionamount of toners of pixels to which a predetermined amount or more ofthe toners adheres becomes uniformly compressed in the entire imageformed on the recording medium.

The clear toner and the fixing device for fixing the clear toner aremounted on the normal fixing post-processing device 80, and image datafor clear toner plate (image data for forming a toner image according tothe clear toner) generated by the DFE 30 is input to the normal fixingpost-processing device 80. The normal fixing post-processing device 80superimposes the toner image by the clear toner on the image pressurizedby the glosser 70 and formed on the recording medium, using the inputimage data for clear toner plate. The toner image formed on therecording medium is then applied heat and pressure at a normaltemperature in the fixing device and fixed on the recording medium.

The clear toner and the fixing device for fixing the clear toner aremounted on the low-temperature fixing post-processing device 90, andimage data for clear toner plate generated by the DFE 30 is input to thelow-temperature fixing post-processing device 90. The low-temperaturefixing post-processing device 90 superimposes the toner image by theclear toner on the image pressurized by the glosser 70 and the normalfixing post-processing device 80 and formed on the recording medium,using the input image data for clear toner plate. The toner image formedon the recording medium is then applied heat and pressure at a lowertemperature (low temperature) than the normal temperature in the fixingdevice and fixed on the recording medium.

Here, the image data output from the host device 10 to the DFE 30 willbe described.

The host device 10 generates original copy data in which special colorplate information (image data for special color plate described below)is added to image data for color plate according to specification of theuser. The special color plate is image data for causing special tonersor inks such as white, gold, and silver to adhere, in addition to basiccolors such as CMYK, and is data for printers in which such specialtoners or inks are mounted. As the special color plate, R may be addedto the CMYK basic colors or Y may be added to RGB basic colors, in orderto improve color reproducibility. Typically, the clear toner has beentreated as one of the special colors. In the image forming system 1 ofthe present embodiment, a transparent developer that is a clear toner asa special color is used in addition to color developers that are tonersof the CMYK basic colors. The image forming system 1 of the presentembodiment executes a plurality of different types of transparentprocessing (may sometimes be referred to as clear processing) by usingthe clear toner. As the clear processing, there are processing offorming a gloss effect that is visual or tactile effect provided to apaper and processing of forming a transparent image, using the cleartoner. As the clear processing, various known technologies can be used.

The image data for color plate is image data that defines an image to beformed with a color developer of a color toner. Specifically, the imagedata for color plate is image data that defines color density values ofthe RGB, CMYK, or the like, for each drawing area. FIG. 2 is anexplanatory diagram illustrating an example of the image data for colorplate. In FIG. 2, the density value corresponding to a color specifiedby the user is provided for each drawing area (object) such as “A”, “B”,or “C”. The density value of each drawing area is represented by adensity value of 0 to 100%, for example (may be represented by “0” to“255”, or the like).

The image data for special color plate is data that defines atransparent area to be realized using the clear toner. The image datafor special color plate includes image data for gloss control plate andimage data for clear plate. These image data for gloss control plate andthe image data for clear plate are generated based on specification ofthe user. The image data for gloss control plate is image data thatdefines a gloss effect to be provided to a paper. Specifically, theimage data for gloss control plate is image data that identifies an areato which the gloss effect is provided and a type of the gloss effect, inorder to perform adhesion control of the clear toner according to thegloss effect that is visual or tactile effect to be provided to a paper.The image data for clear plate is image data that identifies atransparent image of a water mark, texture, or the like other than theabove-described gloss effects. Note that, in the description below, acase of using only the image data for gloss control plate as the imagedata for special color plate will be described as an example.

In the image data for gloss control plate, the density value of a glossarea (drawing area) that indicates an area to which the clear toner isprovided is represented by the density value of 0 to 100% (may berepresented by “0” to “255”, or the like), similarly to the image datafor color plate of the RGB, CMYK, or the like, and the type of the glosseffect is associated with the density value.

Here, as the types of the gloss effects, there are roughly one relatedto presence or absence of gloss, surface protection, a watermark withembedded information, and texture. As for the gloss effect related tothe presence or absence of gloss, there are roughly four types, asexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 3, including specular gloss (premiumgloss (PG)), solid gloss (gloss (G)), halftone-dot matt (matt (M)), andmatting (premium matt (PM)) in descending order of the degree of gloss(glossiness). Hereinafter, the specular gloss may be referred to as“PG”, the solid gloss may be referred to as “G”, the halftone-dot mattmay be referred to as “M”, and the matting may be referred to as “PM”.

The specular gloss and the solid gloss have a high degree of providinggloss. In contrast, the halftone-dot matt and the matting suppressgloss, and especially, the matting realizes glossiness lower than thatof a normal paper. In the drawing, the specular gloss indicatesglossiness Gs of 80 or more, the solid gloss indicates solid glossinessmade by a primary color or a secondary color, the halftone-dot mattindicates glossiness of a primary color and halftone-dot of 30%, and thematting indicates glossiness of 10 or less. Further, a deviation of theglossiness is represented by ΔGs, and is 10 or less.

For the respective types of the gloss effects, a high density value isassociated with the gloss effect having a high degree of providinggloss, and a low density value is associated with the gloss effect thatsuppresses gloss. The gloss effect of the watermark, texture, or thelike is associated with an intermediate density value. As the watermark,a character, a background pattern, or the like is used. The textureexpresses a character or a pattern, and can provide a tactile effect, inaddition to a visual effect. For example, a stained glass pattern can berealized by the clear toner. The specular gloss or the solid gloss isused as a substitute for the surface protection.

Note that to which object in the image data for color plate the glosseffect is provided, and which type of the gloss effect is provided tothe object are determined according to specification of the user. Thehost device 10 sets the density value corresponding to the gloss effectspecified by the user to each drawing area that serves as a target towhich the gloss effect is provided, thereby to generate image data forgloss control plate in a vector format.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the imagedata for gloss control plate. The example of the image data for glosscontrol plate of FIG. 4 illustrates that the gloss effect “PG (speculargloss)” is provided to a drawing areas “ABC”, the gloss effect “G (solidgloss)” is provided to a drawing area “(rectangular figure)”, and thegloss effect “M (halftone-dot matt) is provided to a drawing area“(circular figure)”, according to specification of the user.

The image data for color plate and the image data for gloss controlplate are generated in a portable document format (PDF) in page units,and these image data for color plate and the image data for glosscontrol plate are integrated to generate the original copy data. Thegenerated original copy data is then transmitted to the DFE 30. Notethat the data format of image data for each plate is not limited to thePDF, and an arbitrary format can be used.

In the host device 10 of the present embodiment, an application (may bereferred to as “special color object creation application” in thedescription below) for determining to which object in the image data forcolor plate (corresponding to “target image data” in Claims, in thisexample) the gloss effect is provided, and what type of the gloss effectis provided to the object, according to specification of the user, ismounted. Hereinafter, functions that the host device 10 has will bedescribed, mainly focusing on the function related to the special colorobject creation application. Note that, in this example, the host device10 can be considered to correspond to an “information processing device”in Claims.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functionalconfiguration of the host device 10. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the hostdevice 10 includes an operation unit 101, a data input unit 102, anoperation control unit 103, a generation unit 104, a display unit 106,and a data recording unit 107.

The operation unit 101 is an input device used by the user for inputtingvarious instructions and various types of setting, and can be configuredfrom a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, for example. Hereinafter, a casein which the operation unit 101 is configured from a mouse will bedescribed as an example.

The data input unit 102 reads electronic data (or example, image datafor color plate stored in a memory (not illustrated)) specifiedaccording to an operation of the operation unit 101 from a memory (notillustrated), and records the read electronic data in the data recordingunit 107. Further, the data input unit 102 performs control ofconverting the read electronic data into preview display data in a dataformat that can be treated in the display unit 106, and displaying theconverted data in the display unit 106. In this example, the data inputunit 102 displays a screen exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 6 in thedisplay unit 106. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a screen displayedwhen a plug-in is incorporated in Illustrator sold by Adobe Systems (R)Incorporated. The screen illustrated in FIG. 6 displays an image (may bereferred to as “target image” in the description below) represented bythe image data for color plate specified by the user through theoperation unit 101.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of theimage data for color plate stored in the data recording unit 107 aselectronic data (an electronic image file). The image data for colorplate includes drawing information of each object included in the samepage. For example, the drawing information includes informationindicating a position of a drawing area, a color space, and density. Inthe example of FIG. 7, an object 1 is an image object that indicates anobject expressed by pixel data, and includes information indicating adrawing position and an RGB color space as the drawing information. Anobject 2 is also an image object, and includes information indicating adrawing position and an RGB color space as the drawing information.Further, an object 3 is a graphic object that indicates an objectexpressed by vector data, and includes information indicating a positionwhere a straight line is drawn, a line width, a CMYK color space, anddensity of each pixel as the drawing information.

Referring back to FIG. 5, and description will be continued. Theoperation control unit 103 converts an operation received from theoperation unit 101 into available event information, and notifies thegeneration unit 104 of the event information. In this example, the useroperates the mouse while confirming a target image displayed in thedisplay unit 106, moves a mouse cursor that indicates a current locationof a mouse input to an arbitrary position on the target image, andperforms a click operation, thereby to specify the arbitrary position.The event information of this case may just be information including atleast specified position information that indicates the positionspecified by the user with respect to the target image. Further, here,the position of the mouse cursor in a state where the user does notperform the click operation (in a state where the user does not performan operation of specifying the arbitrary position on the target image)can be considered to indicate a position currently pointed at by theuser, of the target image, (which is distinguished from a “positionspecified by the user”).

Further, the operation control unit 103 can perform control ofdisplaying various images in the display unit 106 according to a useroperation received from the operation unit 101. For example, in FIG. 6,when the user presses a button image (not illustrated) for selecting thespecial color object creation application through the operation unit101, the operation control unit 103 performs control of displaying a UIimage related to the object creation application in the display unit106. When the button image for selecting the special color objectcreation application is pressed, the special color object creationapplication is executed (started), and the user performs an operationinput through the operation unit 101, thereby to specify to which objectin the image data for color plate the gloss effect is provided, and whattype of the gloss effect is provided to the object. Then, as describedbelow, the host device 10 generates a special color object according tothe specification of the user.

Note that, in this example, when having received the click operation ofthe mouse by the user in a state where the special color object creationapplication is started, the operation control unit 103 notifies thegeneration unit 104 of a special color object generation instructionthat instructs creation of the special color object, and the eventinformation including at least the specified position information.

Referring back to FIG. 5, and description will be continued. Thegeneration unit 104 includes an object identifying unit 105. Further,the generation unit 104 has a function to receive the event informationfrom the operation control unit 103 (that is, a function to receive thespecified position information). In the example, the generation unit 104can be considered to have a function corresponding to a “receiving unit”in Claims.

When having received the special color object generation instruction andthe event information from the operation control unit 103, thegeneration unit 104 requests the object identifying unit 105 to identifyan object (that may be referred to as “first object” in the descriptionbelow) including a position indicated by the specified positioninformation included in the received event information. The objectidentifying unit 105 that has received the request acquires anelectronic image file (the image data for color plate exemplarilyillustrated in FIG. 7, in this example) of the target image from thedata recording unit 107, and identifies the first object based ondrawing information of each object included in the acquired electronicimage file, and the specified position information. In this example, theobject identifying unit 105 can be considered to have a functioncorresponding to a “first identifying unit” in Claims.

Next, the generation unit 104 generates an object (which may be referredto as “third object” in the description below) having the same shapewith the object (first object) identified by the object identifying unit105. For example, the generation unit 104 generates a graphic objecthaving appearance information that indicates an appearance (contour) ofthe first object, as the third object. Note that, as a method ofacquiring the appearance information, various known technologies can beused. Further, the generation unit 104 arranges the generated thirdobject right above the first object. For example, when a part of anobject (which may be referred to as “second object” in the descriptionbelow) having higher priority of display than the first object overlapswith the first object, the priority of display of the third object isset to be higher than the priority of display of the first object, andis set to be lower than the priority of display of the second object.

Next, the generation unit 104 sets a color space and a density value ofthe third object according to the type of the gloss effect specified bythe user. As described above, the generation unit 104 generates theimage data for gloss control plate. The host device 10 then integratesthe image data for color plate that is the target image data and theimage data for gloss control plate to generate original copy data.

For example, assume a case in which the object 3 illustrated in FIG. 7is the first object. In this example, assume that a part of the object 3overlaps with the object 2 having higher priority of display than theobject 3. In this case, the generation unit 104 generates the thirdobject that is an object having the same shape as the object 3, andhaving lower priority of display than the object 2 and having higherpriority of display than the object 3. The generation unit 104 then setsthe color space and the density of the third object according to thetype of the gloss effect specified by the user, thereby to change thethird object to a special color object. Here, the special color objectis referred to as “object 4”. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating anexample of a configuration of the original copy data of this case. Theoriginal copy data includes the drawing information of each objectincluded in the same page.

Each object is identified with the image data for color plate and theimage data for gloss control plate. The objects 1 to 3 are similar tothe content exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7. The newly added object 4indicates an object (special color object) obtained such that the colorspace of the above-described third object is set to a color space of anR-effect that indicates a gloss area to which the gloss effect isprovided, and the density value of the third object is set to a densityvalue corresponding to the type of the gloss effect specified by theuser. The drawing information of the object 4 includes information thatindicates a position where a straight line is drawn, a line width, thecolor space of an R-effect, and the density of each pixel. Note that,while the R-effect is defined as a color plate in the object 4, this isa color plate that cannot be expressed in the CMYK at the time ofprinting. Typically, when printing is performed using a toner (forexample, a red toner) other than the CMYK, red is defined as a colorplate in the electronic image file. Similarly, in the clear toner,special definition is used in the color space of an output of a portionwhere the clear toner is used, in the electronic image file, instead ofthe CMYK.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of generating thespecial color object in the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG.9, when the user clicks a position included in an object B with themouse, in a case where a part of the object B overlaps with an object Ahaving higher priority of display than the object B, the third objectthat indicates a graphic object having the same shape as the object B isarranged right above the object B. Then, the color space and the densityof the third object are set according to the type of a surface effectspecified by the user. Accordingly, the special color object is arrangedright above the object B. As described above, the priority of display ofthe third object (special color object) is set to be higher than that ofthe object B, and is set to be lower than that of the object A, and thusthe object A having higher priority of display is not hidden by thegenerated special color object.

Referring back to FIG. 5, and description will be continued. The displayunit 106 is a device that displays various images, and may be configuredfrom a liquid crystal display, or the like.

The data recording unit 107 is a device that records various types ofdata, and may be configured from a hard disk drive device (HDD) or astorage medium such as a flash memory. In this example, the datarecording unit 107 holds information that indicates the priority ofdisplay of each object, layer information in which each layer thatindicates a virtual sheet on which one or more images are drawn isassociated with protection information that indicates whether editing ofthe layer is prohibited, and the like.

Here, the operation control unit 103 of the present embodiment has afunction to identify a fourth object that indicates an object includinga position of the mouse cursor in a state where the user does notperform the click operation (a position currently pointed at by theuser, of the image indicated by the target image data). Further, theoperation control unit 103 refers to the layer information, and when theediting of a layer to which the fourth object belongs is prohibited, theoperation control unit 103 performs control of notifying of the factthat the editing is prohibited. Note that, in this example, theoperation control unit 103 can be considered to have a functioncorresponding to a “second identifying unit” and a functioncorresponding to a “notification control unit” in Claims. However, theconfiguration is not limited to the example, and a configuration inwhich the function corresponding to the “second identifying unit” andthe function corresponding to the “notification control unit” in Claimsare separately provided may be employed.

When the editing of a layer to which the fourth object belongs isprohibited, it is not possible to generate the special color object andto arrange the object on the layer. Therefore, the operation controlunit 103 performs control of changing the display of the mouse cursor(changing the color or the shape, for example). Specifically, asillustrated in FIG. 10, the operation control unit 103 performs controlof displaying a mouse cursor M1 that indicates prohibition ofprocessing.

Further, when the above-described fourth object does not exist, theoperation control unit 103 performs control of notifying of the factthat the fourth object does not exist. Specifically, as illustrated inFIG. 11, the operation control unit 103 performs control of displaying amouse cursor M2 that indicates an object to be processed does not existin the current location of the mouse input. Meanwhile, when the fourthobject exists, the operation control unit 103 performs control ofdisplaying a mouse cursor M3 that indicates the object to be processedexists in the current location of the mouse input.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof the host device 10. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the host device 10includes a central processing unit (CPU) 110, memories such as a ROM111, a RAM 112, and a VRAM 113, a storage unit 114 such as an HDD, adisplay unit 115 such as a display, an operation unit 116 such as akeyboard or a mouse, and an input/output interface I/O 117, and has ahardware configuration using a normal computer.

In the present embodiment, the CPU 110 reads a program stored in the ROM111, or the like to the RAM 112, and executes the program, thereby torealize respective functions of the data input unit 102, the operationcontrol unit 103, and the generation unit 104 (the object identifyingunit 105). However, the configuration is not limited to the example, andat least a part of the data input unit 102, the operation control unit103, and the generation unit 104 may be realized by a dedicated hardwarecircuit (for example, a semiconductor integrated circuit, or the like).Further, in this example, the operation unit 101 is realized by theoperation unit 116, and the display unit 106 is realized by the displayunit 115. Further, the data recording unit. 107 can be realized by thestorage unit 114, or the like.

Note that the program executed by the CPU 110 may be provided by beingrecorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, aflexible disk (FD), a CD-R, or a digital versatile disk (DVD) with afile in an installable format or an executable format. Further, theprogram executed by the CPU 110 may be stored on a computer connected toa network such as the Internet, and may be provided by being downloadedthrough the network. Further, the control program executed by the CPU110 may be distributed or provided through the network such as theInternet.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure ofgenerating the special color object by the host device 10. First, whenhaving received an operation of specifying the image data for colorplate stored in a memory (not illustrated) through the operation unit101 (step S1), the data input unit 102 reads the specified image datafor color plate from the memory (not illustrated), and records theelectronic image file that indicates the read image data for colorplate, in the data recording unit 107 (step S2). Further, the data inputunit 102 converts the read image data for color plate into previewdisplay data in a data format that can be treated in the display unit106, and performs control of displaying the converted data in thedisplay unit 106 (step S3).

Next, when having received an operation of pressing the button image(not illustrated) for selecting the special color object creationapplication through the operation unit 101 (step S4), the operationcontrol unit 103 performs control of displaying the UI image related tothe special color object creation application in the display unit 106(step S5). At this time, the special color object creation applicationis started (executed).

Next, when having received the click operation of the mouse through theoperation unit 101 (step S6), the operation control unit 103 notifiesthe generation unit 104 of the special color object generationinstruction together with the event information including the specifiedposition information (information indicating the position clicked withthe mouse) (step S7). The generation unit 104 that has received thespecial color object generation instruction and the event informationrequests the object identifying unit 105 to identify the first objectincluding the position indicated by the specified position informationincluded in the received event information (step S8). The objectidentifying unit 105 that has received the request acquires theelectronic image file that indicates the image data for color platespecified by the user from the data recording unit 107 (step S9), andidentifies the first objet based on the drawing information of eachobject included in the acquired electronic image file and the specifiedposition information included in the received event information.

Next, the generation unit 104 generates a graphic object having theappearance information that indicates the appearance (contour) of thefirst object identified by the object identifying unit 105, as the thirdobject. Next, the generation unit 104 sets the color space and thedensity value of the third object according to the type of the glosseffect specified by the user, thereby to change the third object to thespecial color object (step S10). Then, the generation unit 104 recordsthe generated special color object in the data recording unit 107 (stepS11), and then performs control of displaying the special color objectin the display unit 106 (step S12).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by thegeneration unit 104 when the special color object generation instructionand the event information are received. As described above, thegeneration unit 104 that has received the special color objectgeneration instruction and the event information requests the objectidentifying unit 105 to identify the first object including the positionindicated by the specified position information included in the receivedevent information. The object identifying unit 105 that has received therequest refers to the electronic image file indicating the image datafor color plate that is the target image data, and determines whetherthe first object including the position indicated by the specifiedposition information exists, based on the drawing information of eachobject and the specified position information included in the receivedevent information (step S701). When the first object does not exist (Noin step S701), the processing is terminated.

When the first object exists (Yes in step S701), the object identifyingunit 105 refers to the drawing information of the first object, anddetermines whether the first object is an image object (step S702). Whenthe first object is an image object (Yes in step S702), the generationunit 104 acquires the appearance information of the first object (stepS703). Next, the generation unit 104 generates a graphic object havingthe acquired appearance information, as the third object, and arrangesthe generated third object right above the first object (step S704). Inshort, the generation unit 104 causes an attribute of the third objectto be the graphic object when an attribute of the first object is theimage object that indicates an object expressed by pixel data.

Meanwhile, in step S702, when the first object is a graphic object (Noin step S702), the generation unit 104 copies the first object (stepS705), and arranges the copied first object right above the firstobject, as the third object (step S706). To be short, the generationunit 104 causes the attribute of the third object to be the same as theattribute of the first object when the attribute of the first object isa graphic object that indicates an object expressed by a text or vectordata.

After step S704 or S706, the generation unit 104 sets the color spaceand the density of the third object according to the type of the glosseffect specified by the user, thereby to change the third object to thespecial color object (step S707).

Next, an example of processing by the operation control unit 103 in astate where the user performs an operation of moving the mouse cursorwithout performing the click operation (without performing the operationof specifying an arbitrary position on the target image) will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 15. In this example, the operationcontrol unit 103 has a function to acquire input position informationthat indicates the position of the mouse cursor in a state where theuser does not perform the click operation.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, the operation control unit 103 refers to theelectronic image file indicating the image data for color plate that isthe target image data, and determines whether the fourth objectincluding the position indicated by the input position informationexists, based on the drawing information of each object and the inputposition information indicating the position of the mouse cursor in astate where the user does not perform the click operation (step S801).When the fourth object does not exist (No in step S801), the operationcontrol unit 103 performs control of displaying the mouse cursor M2 (seeFIG. 11) that indicates the object to be processed does not exist in thecurrent location of the mouse input (step S802)

Meanwhile, when the fourth object exists (Yes in step S801), theoperation control unit 103 determines whether the editing of the layerto which the fourth object belongs is prohibited (step S803). When theediting of the layer to which the fourth object belongs is notprohibited (No in step S803), the operation control unit 103 performscontrol of displaying the mouse cursor M3 (see FIG. 11) that indicatesthe object to be processed exists in the current location of the mouseinput (step S804). When the editing the layer to which the fourth objectbelongs is prohibited (Yes in step S803), the operation control unit 103performs control of displaying the mouse cursor M1 (see FIG. 10) thatindicates prohibition of processing (step S805).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the third object havingthe same shape as the first object including the click position of themouse, of the object included in the image data for color plate that isthe target image data, is generated, and is arranged right above thefirst object. For example, in a case where a part of the first objectoverlaps with the second object having higher priority of display thanthe first object, the priority of display of the third object is set tobe higher than that of the first object, and is set to be lower thanthat of the second object. Then, the color space and the density of thethird object is set according to the type of the gloss effect specifiedby the user, whereby the third object is changed to the special colorobject. Here, the second object is not hidden by the added special colorobject, and thus the special color object can be added only to a portionof the first object, the portion not overlapping with the second object.That is, according to the present embodiment, the user performs only theclick operation, thereby to add the special color object only to theportion of the first object, the portion not overlapping with the secondobject.

Note that, in the above embodiments, the configuration to generate theoriginal copy data in which the information of the special color plate(image data for special color plate) is added to the image data forcolor plate has been described as an example. However, a configurationto which the present invention can be applied is not limited to theconfiguration, and for example, may be a configuration in which theimage data for special color plate is not generated.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve workefficiency of a user when another object is added only to a portion ofthe first object, the portion not overlapping with the second objecthaving higher priority of display than the first object.

Although the invention has been described with respect to specificembodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein setforth.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing device comprising: areceiving unit configured to receive specified position informationindicating a position specified by a user with respect to an imageindicated by target image data including drawing information of eachobject; a first identifying unit configured to identify a first objectindicating an object including the position indicated by the specifiedposition information; and a generation unit configured to generate athird object indicating an object having lower priority of display thana second object indicating an object having higher priority of displaythan the first object, and having higher priority of display than thefirst object, and an object having a same shape as the first object. 2.The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein, when anattribute of the first object is a graphic object indicating an objectexpressed by a text or vector data, the generation unit causes anattribute of the third object to be same as the attribute of the firstobject.
 3. The information processing device according to claim 2,wherein, when the attribute of the first object is an image objectindicating an object expressed by pixel data, the generation unit causesthe attribute of the third object to be the graphic object.
 4. Theinformation processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:a second identifying unit configured to identify a fourth objectindicating an object including a position currently pointed at by theuser, of the image indicated by target image data; and a notificationcontrol unit configured to refer to layer information in which eachlayer indicating a virtual sheet on which one or more images are drawnis associated with protection information indicating whether editing ofthe layer is prohibited, and when editing of a layer to which the fourthobject belongs is prohibited, to perform control of notifying of theprohibition of the editing of the layer.
 5. The information processingdevice according to claim 4, wherein, when the fourth object does notexist, the notification control unit performs control of notifying thefourth object does not exist.
 6. The information processing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the generation unit sets a color space anddensity of the third object according to a type of a gloss effectspecified by the user.
 7. A method of processing information comprising:a receiving step of receiving specified position information indicatinga position specified by a user with respect to an image indicated bytarget image data including drawing information of each object; a firstidentifying step of identifying a first object indicating an objectincluding the position indicated by the specified position information;and a generation step of generating a third object indicating an objecthaving lower priority of display than a second object indicating anobject having higher priority of display than the first object, andhaving higher priority of display than the first object, and an objecthaving a same shape as the first object.
 8. A computer-readablerecording medium that stores therein a computer program causing acomputer to execute a method of processing information, the methodcomprising: a receiving step of receiving specified position informationindicating a position specified by a user with respect to an imageindicated by target image data including drawing information of eachobject; a first identifying step of identifying a first objectindicating an object including the position indicated by the specifiedposition information; and a generation step of generating a third objectindicating an object having lower priority of display than a secondobject indicating an object having higher priority of display than thefirst object, and having higher priority of display than the firstobject, and an object having a same shape as the first object.